Smartphones, tablets, Smart TVs, cameras, gym equipment, digital picture frames, washing machines, batteries… sooner or later, the same thing always happens: The manufacturer throws in the towel, and every feature that depends on a remote server or an app vanishes into thin air. So why do we imagine the story would be different with electric cars? The collapse of startups in China and the consolidation of its electric market are ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of users, and they present a serious warning to the West…
If the mere idea of connecting a television to the Internet makes me uncomfortable, the obligation to use an app to unlock the doors of an electric car is truly chilling. The web is full of “horror stories” that follow more or less that line (a server going down, signal losses, a rented electric car that has to be towed, etc.), but they multiplied with the “process of consolidation” (not to say “massacre”) that the Chinese market is going through.
404: Electric Car Not Found
A hypercompetitive environment and the disappearance of government subsidies are blows below the waterline for many startups that are declaring bankruptcy… and abandoning their customers. The most extreme case was WM Motor, which sold approximately 100,000 vehicles between 2019 and 2022.
WM Motor declared bankruptcy in October 2023 (COVID, stagnation of capital markets, and an increase in raw material prices were the reasons cited), its remote servers stopped working, and users encountered multiple problems when controlling certain elements in their vehicles, such as the entertainment system, the air conditioning, and the locking of the doors. Even with a partial restoration of the servers, its official app is no longer available, and updates are conspicuously absent.
Obviously, the West is not immune: Tesla suffered “app pains” in November 2021, and Fisker exploded in June of this year, going so far as to disassemble prototypes and unsold stock to offer spare parts to its customers. The most likely thing is that we will see conservative strategies among consumers, something that is already happening in China. The best-selling electric cars belong to BYD, Tesla, and GAC Motor.
Sources: Rest of World, The Drive
